Babe’s Chicken House, Garland, TX

After a day at work, I decided that I wanted some fried chicken for dinner. I’ve been wanting to try a Babe’s (there are several in the area) for a while. Conveniently, there was a location a couple miles south of the plant I was working at, on Belt Line Road, so I headed that way.

Ordering is simple, no menus. You choose fried chicken, chicken fried steak, or one of four or five other things that I can’t remember. The entree is brought with bowls of stuff served family style. The green beans were excellent, the pinto beans were good (a bit mushy), the semi-creamed corn was very good, the mashed potatoes good, and the gravy pretty good. These are all served as all you can eat, so it turns out to be huge amounts of food. You also get biscuits; they are a bit flat, but tasted just fine with the butter and honey on the table.

The fried chicken – it was a full half chicken. I could not finish it! It was crispy and good. The breading was not greasy or fat soaked, and the meat had an excellent taste. It was hotter than heck, so it was clearly fresh cooked.

All in all, I really like Babe’s. I would be happy to bring my family. I felt a bit sad to leave so much food on the table. I ate about 90% of the chicken, leaving some of the wing behind. But I only was able to eat about 1/3 of the all the other stuff, and I walked out of there absolutely full. I would make a suggestion to the management: single diners should be given the option of having a bowl for the extras that is smaller than a soup bowl.

The iced tea was good, and provided in quantity.

The place was only about 20% full when I got there at 1745, and maybe half full when I left an hour later, stuffed to the gills.

My check was $13.36. I think this was TREMENDOUS value. Just for the huge amount of chicken provided, not to mention the unlimited veggies. Service was outstanding, always prompt but not smothering.